maintenance feeders?

hello,

just for clarity, i am not a pro with hogs. i currently have 9 westerns and a pair of southerns. they are all thriving except for my 1 "maintenance" feeder.

i was wondering if you all ever have any hatchlings that just turn into maintenance feeders? by this i mean they will only eat enough to survive, but not to grow.

example... over 4 months ago i bought 1.2 of late 2012 het toffees. they all started off around 10g. the male and one of the females are doing great. eating every 3 days. the male is 30g , the female is female is 40g . the maintenance feeders is 16g and been holding :/

with the picky eater, i have tried scenting with tuna, spam, sardines, live, f/t, braining, and lizard scent. she only eats about once every week to 2 weeks no matter what i have tried.

i keep all my hogs on the same room with 80 ambient, 92 degree hot spot, fairly small appropriately sized bins, a hide, and water. i do not handle the picky eater unless absolutely needed. for me, i have found they eat better when in fairly small containers. containers that they can touch both ends when they stretch out.

i have learned all the individual habits and personalities of the other. the maintenance feeder i cant figure out. it's a shame for her health sake and the fact that she is a beautiful red het toffee.

do some just maintenance feed and never reach breedable adult size? i refuse to just sell her and dump her on someone unsuspectingly.

any thoughts? feed back? advice?

thanks...
jonathan

My extreme red albino female did this for a year, then one day, just started destroying food and doubled in size in NO time

Just never know.

i have been waiting for her feeding to kick it up a notch. i'm getting discouraged at this point though.

I've never had a hog not eat with using frog/toad scent. 99% of my problem feeders will eat right away with that scent.. 1% need me to leave them scented in the cage at night and the next morning they are gone. I've never had any luck with the other scents and I don't even bother.

Another avenue to look into is parasites. I bought a snake from a breeder that would not eat well and would not grow but would maintain the weight. Then it started losing weight and would not eat. We took it to the vet and it was loaded with parasites and am amoeba. After rounds of medication and treatment he's been fine and parasite free even after a full season. Now he's one of my best feeders and is always happy looking to be fed. It was really frustrating before because you could tell the snake really really wanted to eat but just couldn't. Just a thought.

*I am only mentioning what worked for me*

I had a hog that just would not eat. Vet visit happened, and nothing. I purchased feeder toads and still nothing. I scented with everything! I felt like you are feeling now!

And then I took the darn girl outside. I let my blue tongue skinks go out during the summer, and I have a very snake secure outdoor enclosure next door to that one that I often let my favorite brindle rat go out in. So I plopped the hog in there. The skink next door wasn't thrilled....but the hog loved it.
She went outside everyday for two weeks from morning to dusk and began eating. She was a CB baby when I purchased her, so it wasn't like she was used to a certain photoperiod. The outdoor temps were hotter in the basking areas than what I had in my racks, but she didn't spend much time basking. I did take her out of the rack and place her in a neodesha with UVA/UVB after that. To the day I sold her, she always ate better and more on a schedule when she got outside time.

geckobabies, thanks for the feedback. she actually did go for lizard and tree frog scent.... once. then not again. lol last weekend she went for an unscented fuzzy. seems like she will just about whatever is put in front of her. the problem is, she only eats every 1 - 2 weeks which is not enough to gain any significant size. from my limited experience, 9 westerns & 2 southerns, i will agree with lizard and frog scent being the most effective. i have 1 of each in the freezer i have thought about the health part. she gained 3 grams this month and is up to 19 g. i will probably give her another month and take her in to the vet if she doesn't pick up the pace.

kerri, that's a cool experience. thanks for sharing. i wonder if it was the heat of being outside or the actual outdoor experience? i will give that a whirl.

jonathan

Glad to hear she is making progress and wants to eat Hopefully she just needs more time to digest her meals and as she gets older it picks up some I had an Albino females that was basically the same situation you said. She was always an awful feeder no matter what I tried.. bumping temps, scented pinkies, etc. She eventually outgrew it and got up to breeding size and is a great feeder now but is a terrible breeder.

Let us know how she does